misidentify
Americanverb (used with object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of misidentify
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To talk about the high cost of housing, however, is to misidentify the problem.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2025
"We've found that many respondents misidentify a warning as a watch, which means conditions are favorable for a tornado," Armstrong said.
From Science Daily ● May 9, 2024
Doa, the former EPA scientist who worked at the agency for three decades, said she had never known the EPA to misidentify a source of pollution in a consent order.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2023
Plus, many people misidentify butterflies, notes Sarabia, so a guide can help you safely spot them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
“How could this major airline misidentify a passenger in such a grotesque and negligent way, to cause such harm,” Mr. Lowe said.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 9, 2022
Ebola had previously been seen in the central African Democratic Republic of Congo, not in west Africa and it was initially misidentified as lassa fever, gastroenteritis or cholera.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
May 18, 2026: A headline on this story initially misidentified the island where the fire is burning.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
An earlier version of this report misidentified the titles of Vital Lyfe’s founders.
From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026
The images suggest the base was the intended target but raise questions over whether the school was misidentified or accidentally struck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
Then, in the 1980s, local divers stumbled upon it but misidentified it as a Dutch merchant ship.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
The research suggests that the brain may be misidentifying internally generated thoughts as sounds coming from the outside world.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 23, 2026
“Silver prices fluctuate, but misidentifying items can cost far more than waiting for a slightly better spot price.”
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 31, 2025
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok churned out misinformation about Australia's Bondi Beach mass shooting, misidentifying a key figure who saved lives and falsely claiming that a victim staged his injuries, researchers said Tuesday.
From Barron's ● Dec. 16, 2025
Couples with "baskets of bottled beer and blankets", children wildly misidentifying pigeons and press photographers resignedly legging it around the grass in an attempt to get their shot all added to the chaos.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025
She wasn’t getting high on evidence, but she was consistently misidentifying samples, and claimed to have tested substances that she’d never in fact examined.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
